Gourmets facing decade of Beluga caviar shortages

Gourmets are facing a global shortage of Beluga caviar that could last more
than a decade as central European states discuss a ban on catching sturgeon,
the fish that provides the delicacy, in the Caspian Sea.

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All five countries have failed to agree on sturgeon quotas since 2009. This has put an effective block on Caspian Sea caviar exports and pushed up the price of all caviar.

Peter Rebeiz, Chairman of Caviar House & Prunier in Geneva, said: "The price is now up to €10,000 a kg. Think about it: that's €1,000 for a sandwich. It's ridiculous. Even a lot of caviar lovers can't afford to have it any more."

Twenty years ago, when the price was the equivalent of €1,500 to €2,000 per kg, Mr Rebeiz sold Beluga, Sevruga and Osetra caviar, harvested from wild sturgeon caught in the Caspian Sea. Since last year, though, he has only sold farmed caviar, a change that has left regular customers in Geneva, London, and Paris struggling to adjust.

"Caviar, and the dreams and the magic around caviar, have been there for centuries," he said. "Obviously you've got people who've been having it for years and would like to continue. Farmed caviar for them is something negative." Wild caviar is still available, but, is either illegal or of questionable quality, and today the vast majority of caviar sold comes from farms in Europe or the US.

"In Europe, if you find it, it would either be two-and-a-half years old (which means its not good at all), or it's smuggled."

Farmed Beluga caviar sells for around half the price of wild caviar.

Mr Kurishbayev's plans for the moratorium came after a joint study between Kazakh and American scientists of Beluga sturgeon spawning grounds in the Ural River in Northern Kazakhstan, concluded that current harvesting rates are four to five times higher than would allow a healthy population. The number of Beluga Sturgeon in the Caspian Sea is estimates to have fallen by 90 per cent since the 1970s.

"We can finally attach numbers to what people have suspected – that current management of Caspian Sea sturgeon fisheries will not prevent further population decline," Dr Phaedra Doukakis, a scientist from Stony Brook University, in the US, who led the study.